With the increasing use of the Internet as a way for people to communicate, online dating sites have become a highly popular way for single people to meet and find romantic partners. Starting your own Internet dating site takes time, hard work, and creativity, but these sites have real potential as moneymaking businesses and as a way to help single people find true love. Follow these steps to start an Internet dating site.

Steps

1

Study other popular online dating sites to see how to start an Internet dating site. See what appeals to you and research what type of sites are successful.

2

Decide on your dating "niche." Many sites exist already that are used by the general dating public, so hitting a more specialized dating market (college-age singles, over 35 singles, AARP member singles, arts-oriented singles, wine enthusiast singles, etc.) is the key.

Think up a name for your business, check for domain name availability, and design a logo. Display your logo on your site and all of your business communications. Branding is key to making your site attractive and to have a real "presence" in the online world--which is where you will find most of your customers.

5

Establish yourself as a new business with a business bank account. It's probably not necessary to obtain a business license. Just having social security number tax documentation is usually sufficient.

6

Use an online "site builder" to set up your online site. Many site builder sites are available and affordable and will walk you through the steps of how to start an Internet dating site. Many sites use templates to make the process quick and easy, and some "builder" sites are even specifically geared towards creating a dating site.

7

Sign up with a payment processing system. It's not necessary to even set up a merchant account. Reliable third party sites like PayPal are easy to use for accepting payments via email.

8

Market the site to get users to sign on. Search social media sites for singles to target. Advertise at singles' events and events that suite your site's niche. Do a major e-mail blast to singles, with special offers to provoke interest. Note that new dating sites are no longer allowed to advertise on Facebook.

9

Go over all the details to make sure your site is perfect. Applaud yourself for learning how to set up your own Internet dating site. Go live and watch your online dating business take off.

10

Give to your site power start growth and leads acceleration, buying dating website's email database and making smart email marketing campaigning and submit your site to all main search engine's and famous boards/catalogs.

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Community Q&A

Who handles the technical administration of the site and what does it usually cost?

wikiHow Contributor

Well that really depends on you. You could administer the site yourself if you have the technical knowledge. If you don't, then you will have to hire someone/company to do that on your behalf. As to what it will cost, it generally depends on the person or company you hire to administer the site for you.

That really depends on you. Though a domain name and hosting is the most vital part of a website, and generally you can purchase a domain for about £10 GBP and hosting packages you can shop around for to get them for as little as £5 GBP per month. Though you can get a better price if you pay annually in advance.

Tips

Offer special features like "chatting," instant messaging and different levels of membership ("Silver," "Gold," or "Platinum") that offer extra features depending on the membership (and price) level.

Continue sending emails of potential "dates" to members whose memberships have lapsed, to show them what they are missing by not being out in the dating scene with their site.

Offer discounts to members who sign up for longer time periods, for example, $30 a month for 1 month, $18 a month for 3 months and $10 a month for a 6-month commitment.

Offer an online newsletter that offers advice on dating, like how to meet people online, what to say on a first date, dos and don'ts of dating, etc.

Play up the feature that makes your site special, like a special test that measures potential chemistry between singles in your dating site niche. Market the test as a "scientific" type features to break romantic chemistry down to a formula.

Link your site to popular social networking sites, like Facebook, to widen the potential pool of users.

Once the site is up and running successfully, (due to your thorough knowledge of how to set up your own Internet dating site) publicize "success stories" from your site, featuring short write-ups (with photos) of real couples that met and found love through your site.

Have a feature for making communication anonymous and private, so users don't reveal their personal information to potential dates they are just getting to know online.

Warnings

Beware of sex offenders using the site to lure unsuspecting women into dates. The potential for misuse is always there on dating sites, so security (like checking names of new users against a registry of sex offenders) measures are an unfortunate but necessary reality of running your own site.

Due to the emotionally fraught nature of dating, it's important to give users an easy way to log complaints and block other users who might send inappropriate or abusive communication. This is another important aspect of security that must be built into the site.

Use a reliable and secure payment company to guard against potential credit card and bank fraud against members who are giving out secure information online. Fraud against members can be potentially ruinous for your business.